Product Description

A quirky middle–grade novel about an enterprising seventh–grader who discovers an astonishing plea for help in the grooves of his blue jeans.

Dwayne Ruggles is a regular kid living in a regular town until evil entrepreneur Howard Thigpen shows up. Thigpen seems to have the ability to make people do whatever he wants, and sparks of light swirl around him wherever he goes. But the mystery doesn't stop there. Dwayne discovers that the grooves in his Thigpen–brand blue jeans and the ripples in his Thigpen–brand potato chips contain a secret message, "Please. You must help us. He's stealing the light from our eyes." It's a race against time to solve the mystery, but first Dwayne better figure out what that strange message means.

Ages 8+

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #503730 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Released on: 2006-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7–A surrealistic and nutty mystery set in an average community in Suburbia, USA. Dwayne Ruggles is a short, round seventh-grader who discovers that by rubbing an old-fashioned phonograph needle attached to a Victrola horn (dont ask) in the grooves of his jeans, he can hear a secret message. Then he rubs it in the ripples of potato chips and hears another message. It sounds as though someone is begging for help–but who could it be? And where are they? When his friend Kevin joins him, they soon learn that both the jeans and chips came from the nearby factories owned by Howard Thigpen, a megalomaniacal multimillionaire. Dwayne, Kevin, and fellow student Emily Holmes decide that Thigpen must be holding hostages in his heavily secured factory complex, and that its up to them to rescue the captives. Kids will laugh their way through the ridiculous situations the three find themselves in. With its crazy deadpan humor, the novel is a hoot, and one of the best candidates for booktalking to come along in a long while.–Walter Minkel, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Brockmeier constructs a frothy, fanciful, and entertaining blend of science fiction and mystery, in which nerdy seventh-grader Dwayne Ruggles discovers that the ridges in his blue jeans (and in a certain brand of potato chips), if scratched with a needle, emit a message: a voice pleading for help. It turns out that wealthy entrepreneur Howard Thigpen, who pretty much owns the town and all its businesses, is torturing factory workers, who have embedded these messages in the products in hopes that, like a message in a bottle, someone will find them, decode them and help. Sure it's a silly premise, but it also makes for a compulsively readable story with charmingly eccentric characters. Brockmeier delights in wordplay, and clever names abound (the Chinese restaurant is called Dim Sum and Then Some). Dwayne and his friends Kevin and Emily form an unlikely but effective crime-fighting trio, who may bring to mind Ron, Hermione, and Harry in the Harry Potter series. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A frothy, fanciful, and entertaining blend of science fiction and mystery." -- Booklist

Customer Reviews

A funny, imaginative, and original story
Dwayne Ruggles's adventure begins when his favorite teacher, Mr. Fred, teaches his physical science class about how record players amplify sound. The kids use a construction paper megaphone/loudspeaker and a straight pin to pick up the music on an old-fashioned vinyl record.

Soon after science class, rich businessman Howard Thigpen gives a talk about wealth during school assembly. As Thigpen demonstrates that people will do anything if offered enough money, Dwayne notices that the factory owner has sparkles in place of a shadow.

When Dwayne arrives home, he decides to try the loudspeaker experiment again. He wonders if his corrugated wallpaper might have music inside, since it has grooves like a record. However, tracing the wallpaper with the needle only makes a scratchy sound. He tries several other objects without luck. But when he runs the needle over his blue jeans, he hears a call for help. The message is incomplete, until he and his friend Kevin get their hands on an antique Victrola record player horn. Then they can hear the entire message: "Please. You must help us. He's stealing the light from our eyes."

Now they truly have a mystery on their hands. Who needs help? Who is the eye light thief?

Dwayne idly runs the needle across a ridged potato chip and hears another message. The boys get their first big clue when they realize that both the blue jeans and the potato chips are Thigpen brand.

Dwayne and Kevin are off to solve their groovy mystery. Along the way they accumulate another detective, start a pig stampede, star on "wanted" posters, and much more.

The GROOVES characters are funny, including one recycler who wears mottled gray-pink shirts, which he weaves from dryer lint. The mystery is far-fetched but not nearly as wacky as it seems it might be. (In a very weird way it all makes sense.) This book is just plain enjoyable, from start to finish, and will appeal to both mystery and fantasy fans --- or to anyone who enjoys an imaginative, original story.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com

Get into the groove! (Sorry for that... I couldn't resist)
The book had a large picture of the back pocket of some jeans on it. And a dialog bubble coming out of the middle of the pants saying, "Please. You must help us. He's stealing the light from our eyes."

My dialog bubble would have said, "What the..." when I saw this. This was an ARC I had to read.

Grooves was slated for release in February of 2006, though. And despite great reviews from Booklist ("...a compulsively readable story with charmingly eccentric characters") and School Library Journal ("With its crazy deadpan humor, the novel is a hoot, and one of the best candidates for booktalking to come along in a long while."), I heard nothing further about it.

While cleaning off my bookshelves today, I noticed it lurking in a corner. "Now there's a book I wish I'd reviewed," I thought. Then I thought, "And why shouldn't I?"

Grooves is the very wacky story of Dwayne Bridges, who accidentally discovers that the grooves in his blue jeans, and even in his potato chips, can play messages like a phonograph record. They are all pleading for help, and claiming that a mysterious "he" is "stealing the light from our eyes." How weird is that?

Probably as weird as the fact that Dwayne notices that local businessman, Howard Thigpen, is always surrounded by a cloud of sparkles. And doesn't Thigpen own the jeans factory and the chip factory?

Yes, this makes perfect sense, right? Well, no, it doesn't. But that is the wonderful wackiness that is Grooves. It really is an intriguing mystery, and, oddly, not one so insane that the reader can't pick up the clues and hints. At the same time it delights in weirdness and wordplay.

Another delightfully odd book, The Neddiad, puts me in mind of Grooves. But while, thanks to its semi-popular author, The Neddiad came out with a fanfare, Grooves quickly faded from memory. And that's sad, because Grooves is really a jewel.

Great for all sexes -- it even has a nice, gender-mixed trio at its center -- and a good, broad age range (Amazon says 9 - 12, but I can imagine older kids enjoying it), Grooves deserves to be a sleeper hit.